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Tip

Watching the time

A 9x20x13cm loaf tin is ideal, but if yours is shallower, the cake may cook faster, so test after an hour.

Tip

Using seasonal fruit

You could also use raspberries and tayberries, when they're in season.

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4/fan 160C. Butter and line the bottom of a 1.7 litre loaf tin (see tip below). In a large bowl, rub the flour, butter and muscovado sugar together with your fingers to make fine crumbs. Measure out 5 level tbsp of this mixture into a small bowl for the topping, and mix in to it the cinnamon and demerara sugar. Set aside.

Coarsely grate the apple down to the core and mix in with the eggs and the zest. Stir the baking powder into the rubbed-in mixture in the large bowl, then quickly and lightly stir in the egg mixture until it drops lightly from the spoon. Don’t overmix.

Gently fold in three quarters of the berries with a metal spoon, trying not to break them up. Spoon into the tin and level. Scatter the rest of the berries on top. Sprinkle over the topping and bake for 1¼ -1 hour 20 minutes. Check after 50 minutes and cover loosely with foil if it is browning too much. When done the cake will feel firm, but test with a skewer.

Leave in the tin for 30 minutes before turning out, then cool on a wire rack. Peel off the paper before cutting. Will keep wrapped in foil or in a tin for up to 2 days.

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Comments, questions and tips

Comments

Delicious used picked blackberries and our own apples. I tweaked it a bit as I used the creaming method and omitted the top layer. Also used vanilla instead of orange and cinnamon. You cannot taste the apple though it seems to give the moisture but lacks apple taste. Mine cooked in 1 hour. Note: I followed the tin size as advised as it is alot wider than the pic. Using my silverwood adjustable tin - this is not a standard loaf tin size and this would affect the cooking if you use a narrower tin - you could use a deep round 15cm.

Loved this recipe! Followed it using wild blackberries and a Braeburn Apple. Divided the mixture between two smaller loaf tins. Cooked them for an hour and left them in the tin as prescribed. Perfect! Sticky- just like I like my cakes! Much darker in colour than picture- scrummy!

My other half has recently gone gluten free for health reasons so I made this cake using gluten free self-raising flour, having adapted some of my usual recipies I've found sometimes gluten free versions can be a bit dry but I figured as there was a high moisture content with the apple in this cake hopefully this one would be ok, (I also added a small squeeze of the orange juice just to make sure) I was not disappointed it turned out perfectly moist! I especially love the topping and will definatly be using this recipe again so that's another blackberry picking session for me and the kids on the cards

What a great cake!!!! I have a dodgy fan assisted oven, where the heat is a little uneven. It took approx 1 1/2 hours to cook, but well worth the wait!!! We had a glut of blackberries to use up. I shall be making this again pretty soon. Family 'marks out of 10' ......12!!!!!

I've made this now a couple of times - caught out by forgetting to put the foil on this time though, it's an essential if you don't want burned topping! I left out the lemon juice and the baking powder as I didn't have them the first time and it turned out just fine. Added raspberries as well as blackberries this time too, which was also lovely.

This cake is so good, it taste divine, I've made it about 5 times each a success . The cake for my oven takes a 1 1/2 to cook on 160 oC ( fan oven)and as the instructions say I cover it will foil after 50 minutes. The cake is very soft to cut if you cut it whilst still warm, I find it better the next day after I' ve wrapped it in foil & left in the fridge over night it slices better, lovely with hot custard if you want it as a pud! Give it a try so moist & yummy

This didn't work for me - the middle was a mess of sloppyness. Maybe I did something wrong, but I think I followed all the instructions. I would leave out the apples and orange zest next time as it seemed to increase the water content and I couldn't taste either anyway. Also the topping wasn't really enough and difficult to spread across the top. It all smelled amazing while in the oven though!

Hi hope this helps, I've posted above you . Have a go at this cake again, it is lovely, use a small apple and fresh blackberries if you can. The cake is very soft, when you 1st make it & taking out the oven & it slices better the next day( if you can wait). I have a fan oven and cooked it at 160 oC but for 1 1/2 hours ,cooked in one of those old fashioned china tin loaves like your gran might of had ( depending on age I'm 49, like the beige n white mixing bowls). I covered it after 50 minutes like they said to stop it burning, n didn't open the oven again til I took it out. Hope this helps!

This is so yummy - I've just eaten a slice while it's still warm from the oven. The muscovado sugar provides a caramel-y taste, the sponge is light and the blackberries provide a nice fruity contrast.
I didn't use the zest as I didn't have an orange and i didn't feel it was missing anything... maybe next time - I will definitely make this again.
An excellent recipe.

I adapt recipes... can't help myself ...
When making this cake I've used ...
cranberries
raspberries
blueberries
mixed forest fruits (frozen from supermarket)
dates roughly chopped
tried strawberries, it was nice but they became seeds

In each cake I left out the apple, orange and zest (hate zest)
All the cakes were fantastic

Soon, maybe tonight, I'm going to actually use blackberries (picked from my garden during summer and frozen for later)
I won't use apple, orange or zest

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